I have never eaten a whole dessert by myself, at least not in one sitting neither have my sisters or my mom. We are the sharing type, the ones that ask in a restaurant, “we will have one flan and 4 spoons please”, while my father looks at us with a grin on his face (women who can understand them?). My Mom, my two sisters, and I have always shared a dessert, and I am talking about European desserts, can you say “tiny”?
One of our favorite desserts is crema catalana, a lemon vanilla custard with crunchy burnt sugar on top. I remember how we used to to “fight” over the last piece of burnt sugar. We love crema catalana so much that we even made a dairy free version on this blog, our popular lemon scented almond milk custard
Another family favorite is Mel i Mató, a creamy ricotta like cheese served on a terracotta cup and drizzled with artisanal honey, so velvety, sweet and creamy it is the perfect ending to a meal. Mel i Mató is probably our mom’s favorite dessert. It makes us think of her and wish she was here with us, not so far away in Barcelona.
If you have been reading this blog for a while you know by now that we like to do recipe makeovers, give traditional recipes a little twist, take them for a spin... So staying true to that, we decided to make a homemade ricotta cheese infused with orange and cardamom. We drizzled raw honey on top added some crunchy almonds, some orange zest and served it with some figs. We got our beautiful figs from our friend Lory who grows them on her backyard. The figs were delicious on their own, but as my husband says, when sweet, meats crunchy and creamy prepare your palate for a real treat and your taste buds for a dance.
Enjoy!
Vicky
Home Made Orange Cardamom Ricotta with Figs and Almonds
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 mins
- Yield: 1 ½ cup 1x
Description
Nothing better than home made ricotta drizzled with honey
Ingredients
- 2 cups of 1% milk
- 4 cups of 2% milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 orange peel
- 2 cardamon pods slightly crushed (hit them slightly with the back of a chef's knife )
- 4 tsp fresh squeezed meyer lemon juice or regular lemon
- ½ - 1 cup of raw honey we used wholesome sweeteners
- 12 figs, quartered
- 1 cup toasted sliced almonds
- zest of one organic orange
Instructions
- Combine milk, orange peel, cardamom pods and salt In a large sauce pan. Heat at medium heat for about 15 minutes
- In the meantime, line a fine mesh colander with a cheese cloth and place it over a bowl.
- When milk comes to a soft boil and small bubbles start to form, remove cardamom and orange peel, add lemon juice and stir the milk mixture until it curdles. Pour into the cheese cloth and let it drain until only the curds remain
- Discard all the water from the bowl. Place the colander in the fridge, over a bowl, for 2 hours
- Serve ricotta with figs, drizzled with honey, orange zest and almonds
- Prep Time: 2 hours 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Dessert
Aromatic Cardamom and orange peel
Infuse milk with orange and cardamom
Line a fine mesh colander with cheese cloth
Add lemon and milk will curdle.
Drain
Refrigerate
Voilà!
Consuelo @ Honey & Figs
Qué buena pinta, la combinación de queso y miel es espectacular. Y ya, si el ricotta es casero... buff qué bueno 😉
Vicky & Ruth
Gracias Consuelo, no hay como las cosas hechas en casa
Kelly
Wow, what a creative use of figs! Great post, I am always impressed by home made ricotta and I love the infusion of flavors here!:)
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you, we had an inspired day and cardamom and orange go so well together!
Sina (@thekosherspoon)
i love how you infused such delicious flavors into the ricotta. i've never tried homemade ricotta but it looks easy and probably tastes amazing. great recipe and photos!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank yøu very much!
Ronnie Fein
What a fabulously fragrant and wonderful combination of flavors: orange, cardamom, almonds, honey. Oooooh, I am licking my chops. I will be too busy with your recipes to cook my own soon.
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you Ronnie, you are so sweet!
Alison@AliBabka
I'm in awe you made your own ricotta. Great flavors!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you. We have been wanting to make home made ricotta and we finally did it. If was easier that we thought!
Marcie
This looks incredible! All that creaminess with orange, honey, and figs is making my mouth water. I love this flavor combination!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you very much, we like to make mouth watering recipes 🙂
Christin@SpicySouthernKitchen
What a wonderful combination of flavors! Those figs look gorgeous.
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you, nothing like freshly picked figs!
Mary Frances @ The Sweet {Tooth} Life
I would not have guessed such a fancy dessert would be so simple! And that flavor combo (orange and almond) sounds so delicious. I don't share desserts well;) but I am grateful you are sharing the recipe for this with us!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you. We were also very surprised on how easy it was to make home made ricotta. Once you have it home made it is hard to get the store bought one 🙂
Anne ~ Uni Homemaker
Love the flavors you have infused this ricotta with. And you certainly can't go wrong figs. Delectable!
Vicky & Ruth
We agree, we love figs!!!
The Steaming Pot
Today I learnt that ricotta is just like Indian paneer, which I make at home all the time! I so agree that after once you have tried it homemade, you wouldn't turn to the store-bought variety.
Love the flavors and textures in this recipe. Will make it soon. 🙂
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you, did not know that ricotta was just like Indian Paneer, I guess each culture has its own version of ricotta.
john@kitchenriffs
Sharing desserts makes so much sense! So of course I rarely do it. 😉 This looks truly terrific - really super flavors. Thanks.
Vicky & Ruth
Great bonding when you share a dessert 🙂
Sarah Klinkowitz
Sounds delicious and creative. My DH is reading over my shoulder..I may have to make this - he says it looks YUM!
Vicky & Ruth
It is really easy, and you can infuse the milk with any flavor you like.
Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl
Besides tasting great, this has to smell absolutely amazing!
Vicky & Ruth
Yep, it was great!
Couldn't Be Parve
I love the idea of infusing all that flavor into your homemade ricotta. What a beautiful dessert
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you, we like to "play" around with our food 🙂
Shundara@SavyNaturalista
Great way to use figs! I wish I could say I have never eaten a whole desert by myself but I would be lying if I said I have not 🙂
Vicky & Ruth
Ha, ha, ha, I hope calories didn't count and I could eat one all by myself 🙂
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com
Love the orange and cardamom flavors here. Yum!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you, cardamom and orange is such a classic combination. We love it!
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
This recipe is amazing! And thankfully I'm now back on the cheese train and I LOVE ricotta. I was always intimidated by the thought of making it but you made it look so easy. Going to have to try this.
Vicky & Ruth
It is really easy to make, glad you like it!
Cass @foodmyfriend
You made that look so easy! My family would love this. I had some figs yesterday with a cheese board and I think they have just come good again in Sydney 🙂
Vicky & Ruth
Let us know what they think. Love cheese and figs, we have to wait until next summer to enjoy them again.
Asmita
Gorgeous!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you so much!
Sunnie@ModernGirlNutrition
What a great recipe! Never would have thought of combining the two 🙂 And, as usual, your pics look straight out of Food Network 🙂 You guys are awesome!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you sooo much!!! You are making us blush 🙂
Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic
I love anything with ricotta. This looks delicious!
Vicky & Ruth
Love ricotta too, thank you.
Aimee / Wallflower Girl
Oh my, what pure indulgence and wonderful flavours! And I love that plate...
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you very much, we really enjoyed it after taking the pictures.
Chanie@BusyInBrooklyn
wow, you make it look so easy!
Vicky & Ruth
We were surprised how easy it was, really!
Jenny @ BAKE
I rarely eat desserts on my own! though I have been known to share two desserts at once! I love the mixture of ingredients, it sounds absolutely delicious!
Vicky & Ruth
Ha, ha, ha, still two halves don't count as a full dessert 🙂
Tamar Genger @joyofkosher
I have been dying to make my own ricotta, why can't I just do it.
Vicky & Ruth
We have been wanting to make our own ricotta for a long time as well. It is pretty simple, I don't know what took us so long!
This American Bite
I never knew it was that simple!
Vicky & Ruth
We didn't know that either. It is easier than we thought!
Tami Weiser
I make fresh ricotta often but this, scented and perfumed and with citrus is incredible....wow.
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you Tami! We love home made ricotta!
Tami Weiser
This is simply wonderful. Fragrant, creamy, homemade and still easy. I made this--- and it was a terrific recipe, easy to work with, clear, and boy oh boy the results were a huge success- any restaurant or caterer would be proud to serve it at any meal- from fancy buffet to homestyle supper. WOW!
Vicky & Ruth
Wow Tami, thank you so much for your beautiful review!!! We are so happy you enjoyed the ricotta and we love to hear when people try our recipes! 🙂